Killer Mark Woolley on the run after being released from prison on licence

A convicted killer who ran a woman over after she tried to stop him stealing her handbag has gone on the run after being released from prison on licence.

Mark Woolley was jailed for life in 2001 for the killing of costume designer Elizabeth Sherlock.

The 52-year-old has not been seen since a probation meeting on January 31, Scotland Yard said.

The former heroin addict - who was convicted at the Old Bailey of killing Mrs Sherlock after she chased his then girlfriend Jackie Moorehouse, who had pinched her bag - was released from HMP Ranby in Nottinghamshire in November.

A Metropolitan Police spokesman said: "He was last seen on January 31 at a probation meeting in Hackney and breached his conditions on February 1.

"Woolley is described as a white man, 5ft 4ins in height, of slim build with greying hair.

"He has various tattoos and scars on his forehead, jaw and left ear."

Mrs Sherlock chased Moorehouse after her bag - containing just £20 in cash, a mobile phone and bank cards - was snatched as she waited with her husband at Euston station on Easter Sunday to catch a train to Wigan for her father's birthday.

After Moorehouse got into Woolley's Ford Fiesta, Mrs Sherlock jumped on the car and - as it sped off - hung on to the wiper blades, pleading for her life. But the car did not stop.

The designer was thrown into the air in front of the car and tumbled like a rag doll as the car went over her. Woolley smiled as they sped off.

Mark Woolley, pictured after his arrest in 2001 (Metropolitan Police/PA)

After abandoning the vehicle, Mrs Sherlock was left dying on the roadside, her husband a few feet away.

Both Woolley and Moorehouse had scores of previous convictions, mainly for drug-related dishonesty, and stole to fuel their heroin habit.

The couple, from north London, had both denied murder.

Moorehouse, then 24, was cleared of the murder and manslaughter of Mrs Sherlock but jailed for three years after she admitted snatching the 42-year-old designer's bag.

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